Rationale: (Why do we need this policy?)
The collaboration between whanau, child, and teacher is at the heart of Crossways Community Crèche Early Learning Centre. We believe children grow, learn, and flourish when learning is embedded within a culture of collaboration. To honour the principle “Children’s family and community are an integral part of the learning community” (Te Whariki), we strive to ensure that families can be involved in all aspects of our programme. Parent help days are a treasured way families can effectively contribute to the learning curriculum and successful operation of the centre.
Objectives: (What do we hope to achieve?)
- To work in collaboration with parents to enrich children’s learning experiences and environments.
- To complement the role of parents in children’s lives, working in partnership and building relationships of trust and mutual respect that nurture our learning community.
- To provide a resource of time, experience, knowledge, and skills for our learning community to draw on to enhance learning and living in this place.
- To ensure that the adults in children’s lives at the centre understand the roles, responsibilities and routines.
- To provide consistent experiences for children from the adults who support them.
Guidelines: (How will we achieve it?)
Who can do parent help? We prefer that if possible, a parent/guardian attends parent help but a close family member or child’s caregiver on the day, e.g. a nanny, are welcome to attend. Parents are asked to let the teachers know who to expect at the session if it will not be the parent.
How are parent help days organised? Every 6 weeks or so (depending on current roll size) parents will be asked by the Parent Liaison Officer to give 3 possible dates on which they can attend parent help for the next period. The schedule for the next roster is circulated to all families via email. The Parent Liaison Officer will do their best to meet everyone’s preferences in assigning parent help days for the roster period. Parent help days will be assigned to all participating creche families (including those who do not let the Parent Liaison Officer any preferred dates).
Which days can be proposed as parent help days? Any weekday can be nominated as your parent help day, including days the child does not usually attend (provided our licensed number of children is not exceeded - this can be checked with teachers). If parent help falls on a child’s non-attendance day, the child can attend for free. With prior agreement, sibling/s can also attend with the parent helper (including school age siblings).
What if a parent is unable to attend on their allocated day? If the parent is no longer able to attend on the allocated day, it is their responsibility to find a replacement.
With advance notice If you cannot make the parent help day that was assigned to you, the best option is to do parent help on an alternative day within the rostered period. Normally you can swap with another family to achieve this. The parent needs to email the other families asking if anyone can swap days with them. This is usually very effective even if the email is sent the night before. Please notify the teachers of all changes. If discussed in advance with the Head Teacher, it may also be possible to make a contribution to maintenance or management tasks outside of the session times (including committee work). Note that the centre may incur the cost of hiring an extra helper for the day ($100) even if an alternative contribution in kind is later made, so every effort should be made for families to either do their parent help days or find agreed alternatives in advance.
Without advance notice If the parent is unable to attend parent help on their allocated day due to unforeseen circumstances such as emergency or illness, teachers should be notified as soon as possible. Where the parent helper does not attend on the day and there is no advance notice, the creche reserves the right to request that a donation be made towards the cost of employing a helper for four hours.
What if the parent help has another child to look after during their parent help session? Sometimes the parent may have a younger child to care for during their parent help session. If that is the case, the younger child’s needs should always come first, and parents are encouraged to cut the day short and head home if needed.
What if the child finds it difficult to settle with their parent at creche? It is not uncommon for children to find it hard to share their parent with others on parent help day. If that is the case, parents are advised not to worry, and to consider cutting the day short if it becomes too stressful for the child or parent. There will be future opportunities for the child to become accustomed to their parent’s presence.
Parent help role and responsibilities: Parent help provides a welcome extra pair of eyes to notice and respond to children’s learning. However, they are not considered as part of the centre’s ratios, so are not left alone with children. A teacher should always be within sight and available to help deal with conflicts, and issues of safety or uncertainty.
Procedure on the day Please see the document “Parent Help Procedures on the Day”, provided as an addendum to this policy, for information about this.
Respectful interactions with children
Irrespective of special needs, gender, race or cultural, religious or family circumstances, children have a right to:
- be treated with respect and to be protected from harm
- be asked to express their views and wishes about matters affecting their lives and to have those views appropriately considered by adults
- feel and be safe in their interactions with adults and other children
An important part of every day is promoting positive, respectful interactions. Children are learning about their rights and responsibilities as part of the group and conflicts do occur. In these situations, children are given time to find solutions but staff remain close at hand and if needed can facilitate children reaching positive outcomes. Most often stating each child’s position helps children see the other point of view and they can then find their own solution eg “Manu is playing with the truck and Yaya I see you want to play with the truck too. I wonder what we can do?” The most meaningful learning happens when children are supported to find their own solutions. Parent helps can always ask for help from teaching staff if they do not feel comfortable facilitating interactions between children.
Health and safety Health and Safety checks are completed each day. However, the parent help may notice areas of concern and are asked to report these to staff so that they are able to address them.
Emergency evacuation The parent help should make themselves familiar with the evacuation procedures (there are signposts outlining these in each room), including the locations of the emergency exit doors, and the location of the emergency meeting place.
Nappies and toileting The teachers are responsible for meeting children’s intimate needs (unless it is the parent’s own child). All bathing, nappy and toilet needs should be referred to a staff member.
Dealing with injuries All teachers are qualified first aiders and accidents should be referred to them. If the parent help is present when an accident happens, they will be asked about the circumstances so that they can be recorded in an accident report.
Privacy It is requested that photographs are not taken either using cameras or phones during session times, out of respect for the privacy of children and other adults attending that day. In addition, it is asked that information shared about the children to support their learning and lives at the centre be treated confidentially. The same applies to stories that the children share about their home lives, especially where the information might not usually be discussed openly by the family.
Welcoming others An important role of parent help is welcoming new families and visitors who are looking at the centre as a potential place for their child to attend. Sharing first-hand experiences can be valuable to parents trying to evaluate and choose a centre.
Approved date: April 2021 Review date: May 2023